Kazuko desu. Hajimemashite. (I’m Kazuko Oshiro. How do you do?) Kochira wa otomodachi no Miyagi-san desu. (This is my friend, Mrs. Miyagi.)Shaded items: Check the “Learning from the Dialogue” section in this chapter to learn more about these.
Vocabulary
| Hajimemashite. | How do you do?; Nice to meet you |
| kyō | today |
| ii (= yoi) | nice; good; okay |
| tenki | weather |
| ne/nē | isn’t it? (P) → |
| sō nē | Yes, it is; that’s right |
| totemo | very; extremely; really |
| aozora | blue sky |
| da | is/are/am (plain form of desu) |
| asoko | that place; over there |
| kara | from; through (P) |
| kuru | come |
| Buraun | Brown |
| -san | suffix for Mr.; Mrs.; Miss; Ms. |
| kashira | I wonder (P) |
| shitteru/shitte iru | know (DF) → shiru |
| no | informal question marker |
| shujin - (goshujin) | my husband (someone’s husband) |
| to | as; from; to (P) |
| onaji | same |
| kaisha | company |
| Yā | Hi; Hello; Oh (Int) Ⓜ→ |
| Oshiro | Japanese family name |
| Hisashiburi | It’s been a long |
| desu nē. | time since I saw you. |
| desu | is/are/am (polite form of da) |
| Konnichiwa | Hello; Good afternoon |
| gokazoku | someone else’s family |
| go- | polite prefix → |
| kazoku | family |
| ka | question marker (P) |
| kanai - (okusan) | my wife(someone’s wife) |
| Naomi | female first name |
| musuko ( | son ( |
| Kazuko | female first name |
| kochira | this person; this one; this way |
| otomodachi | friend/friends |
| o- | polite prefix → |
| Miyagi | Japanese family name |
| Dōzo yoroshiku | Nice to meet you; How do you do? |
| Kochira koso | Glad/Nice to meet you, too |
| onegai shimasu | please (do); request; ask (NS) → onegai suru |
| onegai | favor; request; wishing |
| kawaii | cute; pretty; lovely |
| okosan | someone’s child |
| oikutsu | how old; how many; prefix o- |
| mittsu | three (years old) |
| ōkii | big; large |
| kore kara | from now on; after this time |
| okaimono | shopping; prefix o- |
| jā | well; well then |
| watashitachi | we |
| watashi | I |
| -tachi | plural suffix for people |
| kore de | now; then; under the situation |
| shitsurei shimasu | Goodbye; Excuse me (NS) → shitsurei suru |
| shitsurei | rudeness; impoliteness |
Tag Questions
Tag questions in English are short questions tacked onto the end of a sentence, to request confirmation or agreement:
“It is, isn’t it?”
“You’re not American, are you?”
In Japanese, the particle ne is used the same way as a tag question.
Learning from the Dialogue
USING NE/NĒ
At the end of a sentence, the particle ne is usually used when asking for confirmation or agreement from the listener—the same way that English-tag questions are used. And ne is sometimes used just to add a soft and friendly tone. The particle nē is used to express an exclamation such as admiration or surprise. The ne or nē particle is used by both male and female speakers.
| Kimi gakusei da ne?Ⓜ | You’re a student, aren’t you? |
| Kawaii wa ne? | It’s pretty, isn’t it? |
| Jā, mata ne! | See you! |
| Wā! Kirei da nē! | Oh! How pretty! |
“I WONDER…”: USING KASHIRA/KANA
The particle kashira as in Buraun-san kashira is used only by women at the end of a sentence. It means “I wonder” and it is used when the speaker is not sure about something or when talking to oneself. In men’s speech kashira turns into kana or kanā. (Younger women also tend to use kana/kanā.)
Notice that kashira/kana always occurs directly after nouns, adjectival nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs.
| Ara, kore okurimono kashira? | Oh, I wonder is this a present? |
| (N) | |
| Naomi-san, genki kashira?Ⓕ | I wonder if Naomi is okay? |
| (Adj N) | |
| Kore ōkii kana?Ⓜ | I wonder is this too big? |
| (Adj) | |
| Buraun-san kuru kana?Ⓜ | I wonder if Mr. Brown is coming? |
| (V) | |
| Naze kashira?/Naze kanā? | I wonder why? |
| (Adv) (Adv) |
“HEY THERE”—USING YĀ
When running into friends or acquaintances, Yā is used as a greeting like “Hi” or “Hello.” Yā has a very masculine sound. It is used only by men.
| Yā, Buraun-san!Ⓜ | Hello, Mr. Brown! |
| Yā, hisashiburi da nē!Ⓜ | Oh hi, I haven’t seen you for a long time! |
USING THE PREFIXES GO- AND O-
In the dialogue, notice the words gokazoku and otomadachi. The go- of gokazoku and o- of otomodachi are polite prefixes. (Sometimes o- is just used to make sounds gentler.)
The prefixes go- and o- are added to a noun,
